Wet Pollen
by Inaccurate Prophecy
Summary: A short story about an insecure Ribombee trying to show his appreciation for his Audino girlfriend. Fluff. Set in the Poképark universe but can be read without knowledge of those games. (Would have added a Ribombee tag but it doesn't exist).


Ribombee stared outside frowning. He had planned to go on a date with Audino today, but the rainstorm he hadn't accounted for decided to make other plans. His wings twitched in annoyance at not catching the storm even with his species' ability to sense the rain. Someone in town must have got upset or something.

Ribombee couldn't exactly let Audino know that he probably couldn't make it either. He hated being out in the rain, so he couldn't just fly over to let her know. This branch of the Poképark had phones, but the Electric and Steel types in charge of helping to spread out technology from the "outside" hadn't got to his house yet. He could send for a carrier Pokémon, but he did not want to be in the rain. At all.

He sighed and started pouting to himself. Ribombee loved his dates with Audino: She was a wonderful and beautiful Pokémon to be around; they had a lot of common interests; and she doted on him with lots of gifts. That last part made his heart thump and his face blush. The fairy enjoyed being spoiled by his girlfriend, yet it didn't sit well with him to be the one always receiving when he had nothing to give.

He sighed to himself as he put his hands on his hips. "There should be something around here I can give Audino," he thought aloud to himself. The bee fly quickly flew around his small apartment to try to find anything he could give as a gift.

One of his books? No, Audino would know he had taken it from the shelf. Some food? No, he didn't know how to cook, nor did he have anything in his food supply. Hooray for making your own food supply. Wait.

Ribombee put his hand on his face. "No, no," he started groaning, "She already has at least twenty Pollen Puffs at her house already. They'd get damp in the rain anyway." The rain outside was occasionally offset by the splish-splash of Pokémon who enjoyed the rain. He had no idea what kind of crazy would enjoy being out there aside from water Pokémon.

He opened his closet and hoped there would be something in here he could give Audino. The concept of clothing was a recent introduction into Poképark from different bug type designers who could weave their own clothing. Different Pokémon had also joined in with their own materials, and now it had become a living for quite a few Pokémon.

Ribombee's clothing options were all gifts from Audino; they were all shirts since nobody really made bottoms for Pokémon. Especially for ones less than a meter tall. And Audino was more than twice his height. Anything he could regift wouldn't reach past her chest.

The bee groaned to himself as he realized he was out of options. The pitter-patter of footsteps outside gave him an idea; an idea he despised but an idea nonetheless. He looked around for anything to possibly cover himself from the rain. Audino had given him a white sweater with slits for his wings. Good enough.

He slipped on the sweater, grabbed his bag of berries to buy something in town, and opened his door. The rain was only getting worse. If Ribombee stepped outside for even a moment, he'd be drenched and his pollen would be sticky.

Screw it. It's for his beloved. Nothing would be enough to stop him from-

"AAAAAAAAAAAGH!" Ribombee started screaming as he sped to the nearest store. He could feel the clumped pollen on his body starting to chafe and tear at his skin. He was so desperate to get out of the storm that he crashed through the window of his destination.

"Goodness gracious!" The Delibird at the counter shouted as she recoiled away from the shattered glass.

Ribombee quickly slammed his bag of berries onto the counter. "Give me the most expensive thing you can gift wrap that 10,000 berries can buy while fixing your window," he said in a strained voice.

The Delibird took a moment to compose herself, took out a present, and gave it to the fairy that had barged into her store. As he rushed out into the rain screaming again, she wondered if she should have told him if he wanted change. Nah. The store needed sprucing up anyway past the broken window.

The still screaming bee fly was flying towards Audino's house at subsonic speeds. Without the rain to weigh him down he could probably rival the speed of sound, but he was in no mood to start tearing his wings apart. It was usually a twenty minute flight to Audino's house, but at this speed he could make it in three.

As her house appeared on the horizon, he slowly realized that he was going too fast to reasonably slow down before making it to the door. He turned his back to the door and embraced the gift box around his body as he attempted to slow down. The fairy had been going near the speed of terminal velocity when his back hit the door. And when the door hit Audino's wall.

Ribombee heard a gasp as he tried to take stock of what wasn't broken inside his body. In his blurred vision, he saw Audino crouching and picking him up bridal style. He gave a weak smile and pushed the box off his body. "I got you a gift," he said weakly. Then his world went dark.

Ribombee woke up on Audino's bed noticeably drier and with less glass shards and splinters. He wearily opened his eyes to Audino standing at the bedside with her arms extended out toward her boyfriend. She was healing him with an expression of worry with a tinge of annoyance. She had been wearing a frilly apron; he supposed he had interrupted her baking.

"You didn't need to do that, honey," she told him in a tone that was half scolding and half worry.

"When's the last time I gave you any gift, Audie?" Ribombee asked in a tired tone. "You give me gifts almost every time I see you. I only wanted to return the favor."

Audino's eyebrow raised as she continued to Heal Pulse Ribombee. "By breaking down my door, fainting like you got mauled by a Lycanroc, and relying on me to nurse you back to health like I didn't want a break from a day job," she stated in a monotone.

Ribombee started flushing and averted his eyes from Audino. "When you put it like that…"

"You're an idiot." She stopped her Heal Pulses to kiss Ribombee on the forehead. "But you're my idiot, honey bunches." As she continued healing, she looked over to the box she had placed on her desk. "What is that anyway?"

"I wanted it to be a surprise." He gave a weak laugh. "So much so that even I didn't know what I got you."

This managed to get a snicker out of Audino. "Really didn't want to be in the rain more than you needed to, huh?" She put her arms down after a moment of silence. "You should be able to fly around now."

Ribombee sat up from his place on the bed. "I'm not going out into the rain," he said flatly.

"If you did, I would have made you pay for the next time I healed you."

Ribombee chuckled nervously. "Yeah, about that…"

Audino sighed with her expression becoming more and more tired. "What did you do?"

"I, uh, kinda spent all my money on that gift?" Ribombee turned away from Audino as to not make eye contact. "I wanted to show how grateful I am for everything you do for me and give me, so I-"

"Please stop," Audino demanded. "I don't want to hear about how the love of my life spent all his money to buy me a collar that won't even fit on me."

Ribombee quickly turned his head to see Audino holding the most expensive looking thing he'd ever seen: a small black collar (more of a choker) encrusted with pink jewels everywhere like it had been hit with a Dazzling Gleam. "Wow…"

Audino tried to put the collar around her plump, pink neck, but it wouldn't go all the way around. "Do you notice the problem here…?" Her voice trailed off as she saw Ribombee crying.

"I can't do anything right," he started as tears streaked down his face. "I'm broke, I'm stupid, and I can't even give a gift back to the person I love without something going wrong." He sniffled as he put his face in his hands. "Why do you even bother with me?"

His sobs continued for a moment until he felt Audino's warm embrace around his body. "You're not stupid and you give me the best gift I can wish for everyday, honey bunches." As her love's sobs started to break, she leaned her face out of the embrace to look at Ribombee's face. "You."

She put her hands on the side of his face and kissed him on the lips. "Your heart is the most wonderful gift you keep giving me, Ribombee." She brushed a hand over his face to wipe his tears. "I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

"Wait, what are you-"

She put herself on a knee as her hands moved to hold one of Ribombee's hands. "Will you marry me?"

Tears started streaking down Ribombee's face again, but this time out of joy. "Of course. Nothing would make me happier."

The two's smiles widened as Audino stood up at the bedside. "Then let me give you something to commemorate our engagement." She put the collar around Ribombee's neck.

The surprise and confusion of the object on his neck was enough to startle the fairy out of his smile. "Wait, why are you giving this back to me?" Ribombee asked.

"Because you had given me the perfect gift to give you." She looked aside and chuckled slightly. "That and trying to find a custom ring for you was taking ages."

Ribombee embraced Audino as more tears streamed onto her fur. "I love it."

Audino embraced back and they enjoyed being in the embrace of one another. "Hey, honey bunches," Audino started cooing with a sly look on her face, "what do you say we make this-"

Ribombee started snoring softly into her shoulder.

"Eh. I'll ask when we're married." Audino sniffed suddenly and winced. "Oh yeah, that's what I was doing before he got here." She lightly laid down her beloved, smiled at him, tiptoed out of the room, then broke into a sprint before her burnt pie could set her house on fire.


End file.
